Emergency Change to Johnson Reservoir Tiger Muskie Regs
Eugene L. 06.23.22
The Utah DNR has announced an emergency change to the daily limit of tiger muskellunge at the Johnson Reservoir on Wednesday, June 8th. This increase allows anglers to catch and keep more tiger muskie before the upcoming draining of the Johnson Reservoir. The dam at Johnson Reservoir has repairs that need to be done this year. The tiger muskies are stocked by the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources in the reservoir. The DWR produces the tiger muskie using true muskellunge and northern pike to produce tiger muskie for Utah each year.
DWR Director J. Shirley announced the emergency change to the 2022 Utah Fishing Guidebook on Wednesday, June 8th. This change was to give anglers an opportunity to catch and keep more fish at Johnson Reservoir in Sevier County. With the reservoir being drained soon and Utah DWR believing no fish will survive the drain down of the reservoir. It is better for as many tiger muskies to be harvested as possible.
The previous daily limit for tiger muskie at Johnson Reservoir was one fish over 40 inches long. The current emergency regulations have changed it to four fish of any size. The Utah DWR plans to restock Johnson Reservoir with fish after the repairs to the dam are complete and the reservoir returns to a full pool.
“Johnson Reservoir has some nice-sized tiger muskie, and we want anglers to have the chance to harvest these fish before the reservoir is drained,” DWR Southern Region Aquatics Manager Richard Hepworth said. “We recognize the value of these fish, and we are also going to try to salvage some of the tiger muskie and transfer them to other waterbodies during the draining.”
The increased daily limit of four tiger muskies in Johnson Reservoir has been in effect since June 8th and will stay in place until Sept. 30th, 2022. All other established rules in the 2022 Utah Fishing Guidebook remain in effect.
